Today's young people are the first generation
that has never known a world without HIV and AIDS. In Ethiopia, where more than
half of the population is under the age of 24, cultural attitudes among the
older generation towards sexual health issues are making it difficult for young
people to arm themselves with the knowledge they need to keep themselves safe.
But one enterprising group of youngsters in Addis
Ababa, the BEZA Anti-AIDS youth group, are determined to use their combined
talents for music and dance to get messages about HIV prevention across to the
public and their peers. Members of the youth group, all aged between 15 and 20,
have founded a dance troupe called Addis Beza, meaning “to live for others”.
The troupe perform regularly in popular public spots around Addis Ababa, using
the occasion to hand out information leaflets and to encourage people to get
tested for HIV free of charge so that they know their status and can be treated
accordingly.
The mobile testing clinics are organised by the
Organization for Social Services for AIDS (OSSA), Ethiopia’s largest NGO
working on HIV, and attract up to a thousand people over the course of five
days. If somebody is found to be HIV positive, they are then referred on to a
local health facility for access to treatment, care and support.
At the youth club centre, as well as training
long hours to learn dance moves, members take it in turns to offer a drop in
counselling service for young people and to give out free condoms.
Habtegoregies Hailu, better known as Habte, is the club’s chairman, and is
determined to help them navigate through their teenage years.
The
troupe practising their dance moves
Photo credit: duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance
“We’re going to save ourselves first, and then
become a shelter for others who need protection,” he says. “This is the start
not the end for us, helping protect young people from HIV.”
The
Youth Group’s Debates
The club’s regular debate session is always well
attended by members and this month’s topic - what is the right age to start
having sex – drew quite a crowd. At these debates, opinion is often fiercely
divided, but everybody gets the chance to express their view.
Club chairman Habte’s offering sees him open up
the floor to personal opinion and thought. “How much control we do we have over
ourselves, over our bodies? Marriage is not necessarily a timetable for having
sex. It’s ok to experience, but we must be careful. It’s ok to jump in and
enjoy life but do we take responsibility for our actions? Enjoy life but go and
get information on how to enjoy it responsibly and carefully.”
Charismatic troupe leader Samson, 17, had this to
say: “We have to have sex, we strongly have to. Because the Bible says to be
reproductive – so we have to fulfil God’s word and use our body. What is it for otherwise?”
Wendimagegne is more hesitant: “I’m waiting until
marriage, because otherwise we won’t be able to handle the consequences. We’re
not knowledgeable enough at 16.”
Samson
and his story
Samson is typical of the kind of young person
that the club aims to attract. Now a model student taking an evening class in
hotel management, he was once branded a troublemaker and had a history of petty
stealing. Brought up by his grandmother, his father died when he was a baby and
he has no real knowledge of his mother. Remembering when he was younger, he
says: “We got into fights with gangs from other villages and had problems with
the police.”
Samson
standing in front of a mobile HIV-testing clinic
Photo credit: duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance
Samson has seen first hand the tragedy that HIV
can hold for young people if they do not have the knowledge they need to
understand how to manage the virus. His friend Abel took his own life on
discovering that he was positive, too frightened to reveal his diagnosis to his
family for fear of being rejected.
“If you catch HIV it means that everyone will
discriminate against you,” Samson says.
“People will think that you can’t live with anyone, that it is an alien
disease. [Before joining the youth group] the opinion I had is that it’s not even
possible to eat together. Our families
used to say that it's a punishment from God.”
“I did not have any knowledge and didn't know its
methods of transmission, but I have learned to practise safe sex, when I should
start having sex, what I need to do after sex if a woman gets pregnant.”
With young people aged 15-24 accounting for 40%
of new HIV infections globally, Samson and his fellow dancers are playing their
part as duty bearing citizens. “I want to make Ethiopian culture known to the
world,” he says proudly. “Here we say
that we want to be the light for others.”
The
troupe performing in the piazza
Photo credit: duckrabbit\International HIV/AIDS Alliance
The
International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Link Up
Ethiopia is one of five countries currently being
targeted by the Alliance and its partners through Link Up, an initiative that
aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of more than one
million young people living with and affected by HIV.
Over the course of the next three years, Link Up
will reach more than one million young people aged 15-24 by implementing
tailored HIV and sexual and reproductive health interventions to increase
uptake and access to services and reduce unintended pregnancies, new HIV
infections and HIV-related maternal mortality. In Ethiopia the initiative aims
to reach 140,000 young people to improve their sexual health.
What
can you do to help?
Show your support to Addis Beza, the Link Up
programme and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance by:- Sharing the dance troupe’s story on Twitter and on Facebook) #LinkUp
- Keeping up to date with the work being carried out through Link Up at www.link-up.org
- Follow the International HIV/AIDS Alliance on
Twitter @theaidsalliance and on Facebook
Thank you for taking the time to
read about Addis BEZA today. It means a lot to everyone involved in this
project.
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